


the first visitor

by ghostscribe



Series: 9,000 meters above sea level [3]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)
Genre: Gen, i think kris is the game-verse tag for her right?, i'm not sure how to tag this honestly?, kinda shippy if you squint i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-06-01 16:21:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15147047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostscribe/pseuds/ghostscribe
Summary: Red lives on top of a mountain, so it's not often he gets any visitors; it's not often he even wants them. He's thankful for one in this weather, though.





	the first visitor

It's somehow getting worse.

Red has lived on Mount Silver for nine months, now. He likes it up here, with how isolated it is. Most trainers never make it this far up the mountain, and even if and when they do, it's so easy to walk the other direction, trudge through the snow and around a corner, and suddenly you're gone. Red has learned where every little crevice, nook, and cranny is up here, and he absolutely uses that to his advantage. As long as he can still see where the mountain is, he can be in and out as silently and easily as a ghost. Occasionally, someone tries to engage in conversation with him, but he's not interested in talking to anyone right now.

Maybe he never will be.

The whole reason Red came up here was so that he could successfully avoid the gaze of the public. Being the Indigo League Champion and the one to bring down Team Rocket at such a young age garners quite a lot of staring, lots of questioning, lots of following - stalking, really, hunting with cameras and microphones in hand, trying to get even a word out of the boy who's nearly mute. He can only speak when he feels safe, and down in Kanto, down where people are going to follow him around and try to pull him into huge crowds and interviews he doesn't want to be in, he does _not_ feel safe. Green used to help him, distract the paparazzi or joke around, answer things on Red's behalf, but that only worked for so long. It was endearing when they were ten, and it probably still is now that they're twelve, but Red knows in the back of his mind that, eventually, he's going to be asked to speak for himself, the spotlight will be his and his alone, and he's going to be on top of the media world.

He'd rather _physically_ be on top of the world, out of sight and out of mind.

It's been working, so far. He hasn't spoken to anyone but his Pokémon since he came up here, and it's been almost a year. This is his first winter on Mount Silver, though, and the gales and blizzards are so, so much worse than he anticipated. Not a single trainer is outside, not even any Pokémon that are very well accustomed to this mountain. Even the Sneasel are tucked away, and they're ice types that thrive in the cold. Red wishes he could see an actual thermostat right now, but his best guess is a windchill of _way too cold._

He's heard it can get as bad as -60 Celsius. That's way too cold to be out without a jacket.

Red had only left to see if there were any berries out here; sometimes he can find aspear berries up here, used for thawing out frozen Pokémon, and often impervious to some of the worst elements. The wind is way stronger than he anticipated, though, he didn't bother to bring a heavier coat (at least he's wearing one with sleeves, for once), and all he has on him right now is his backpack and Espeon. Charizard could potentially brave the winds, but he's healing up after a long day of training. Espeon isn't as strong against the cold, so if he gets into any trouble... Well, it's best not to reach that point, best not to even bother sending her out where she could get hurt. He's lost his way, though... Maybe he could send her out, ask her to use her psychic abilities to find their way back to his little cave. His footprints have been snowed over, and the squalls of snow are making it impossible to see anything with only human eyes.

He can barely even open his eyes, actually.

Red feels around in what he believes to be the general direction of his mountain, but he only feels snow, ice, more snow, more ice... He manages to turn his back agains the wind and open his eyes.

Oh, wow. It's literally just snow, now. Time for Espeon.

He sends her out, immediately shuffling over to her and holding her in his coat, to keep her as warm as he can out here. She whines against the winds.

"Espeon, which way is our cave?"

 _"Espe..."_ She purrs quietly and closes her eyes. The red gem on her forehead glows, but only dimly. That's not good. It's way too cold for her out here. _"Spe..."_

"Please, I-I just need to know which direction to go." It feels like his eyes are freezing. Any exposed skin is stinging like hell. His legs aren't much better, thigh deep in snow.

 _"Espeon!"_ Her cry echoes through the land, if there's even any proper land left and not just piles of ice. _"Eon..."_

"You can't tell?"

 _"Es."_ _No,_ she reluctantly informs him, then uses what little energy she has to telepathically speak. _"Why out here?"_

She's been getting better at her English fairly quickly, in the month she's been in her evolved form. "I was looking for berries."

_"Food inside."_

"I-I know, I just... wanted aspear berries before it got too cold to find them."

_"Too late."_

"Yeah. Yeah, I know. Y'know what," he pulls her pokéball back out, "I'll find my way back. It's too cold for you out here."

 _"Cold for you, too."_ She nuzzles closer to his chest.

"I know. I'll get back soon." His chest hurts. "Return."

The comfort of his psychic cat disappears with a red light, and he carefully zips her back into the inner pocket of his coat. The bast of cold that hits him in the three seconds it takes to put her away is awful. God, his fingers are numb. Are they turning blue? They better not be. He needs his hands to live a normal life. He's only twelve! He's way too young to get frostbite.

Red slowly makes his way back the way he think he came, but he can't be certain. Breathing is getting too difficult in the wind. His ears are icy cold. He's been out here for... what, ten minutes? How did he already get so lost? Is it getting darker? His Pokédex read 9:21AM when he left his cave. It can't be sundown, now.

Red realizes, dimly, that he's blacking out. With what little energy he has, he shoves himself forward for another thirty seconds.

The mountain just comes into view as he faints, and, as far as he knows in that moment, it's the last sight before he dies.

 

* * *

 

Oh.

Oh, he's not dead.

That's Red's first thought when he feels himself wake up. He feels almost hot, now, aching, but not numb. He'd very much rather be hurt than numb, at this point. That probably means he didn't lose any appendages to frostbite. Good. Excellent.

Oh, wow, going outside was a horrible idea.

Red lays quietly on the cave ground for a few more minutes, just... relishing in his aches, the hardness of the floor, the warmth of his Pokémon's fur on his hand, the feeling of survival. Espeon must have saved him, somehow. It's just like her to break out and help him out, even when he's too stubborn to accept any help. Venusaur is the same way, acting almost like a mom to him. He hopes he can find his way back to his cave, though. He's not entirely sure where he is (no, he's not opening his eyes yet, he's exhausted), and he's even less sure that he can get home in this storm. He's heard of Pokémon that lived in their pokéballs for years without any major repercussions, but he's not eager to let that be the case with him. If Espeon battles and faints, he's going to have to go back down the mountain, find a Pokémon Center, and he just wants to be alone.

He opens his eyes to see, actually, that he's not alone.

He's so startled by the sight of another human (in this weather, too) that he jumps back and nearly falls into the lake behind him. The trainer is quick to grab him by the wrist and pull him away from the water. He looks back at the water, up at the various caverns - oh, there's his, there's home, that's good.

Maybe it's a little less good, since now this person might know where he's been hiding. He braces for the worst.

"I guess you're finally awake. Are you okay?"

The trainer has these crystal blue eyes and hair slicked into two ponytails, that's what catches Red's eye. Her voice is light, almost melodic, but most notably quiet, echoing prettily off the cave walls. His attention rapidly jumps from trying to figure out exactly where is to trying to figure out who _she_ is and how she got up here.

"Hey, you hear me? Are you okay?"

Red looks at her, silently and somewhat terrified, before he nods slowly. Espeon jumps to his side and stands protectively against him.

"Are you still cold?" she asks. "I tried to get Typhlosion to stay by you to warm you up, but I don't know how well that worked out..."

Red looks behind her to see a peculiar-looking Pokémon, yellow and navy with red spots on its back. He reaches out tentatively to it, and it merely blinks at him from where it's decided to lay. It's fur is soft and warm - oh, those spots are hot.

"Careful, you don't wanna get burned anymore than you wanna freeze," she warns him. Burning would be preferable, but still not very much fun. "Have you ever seen a Typhlosion before? I know it's kinda a rarer Pokémon, being an evolved starter, and all."

A starter? He looks curiously at her, and she blinks back, confused.

"You _do_ know what the Johto starters are, right?" He shakes his head. "Oh! You must be from Kanto, then?" He nods a little. "I see. I guess I just assumed you were from Johto, since you have an Espeon. Not a lot of folks from Kanto have Johto-native eeveelutions, you know."

Red looks over at Espeon, who stares back at him, before she speaks to the mysterious trainer. _"Name?"_

The girl jumps back a little. "You can talk?"

 _"Telepathy. Learning."_ Espeon's tail swishes like a metronome.

"Oh. Well, um, my name is Kris."

 _Kris,_  like a crystal That's a fitting name.

Espeon nods. _"This is Red. Doesn't talk much."_

Red flushes a little at that. It's been awhile since someone had to explain that, and usually Green would be the one to say it; _Red's not much of a talker, but I say more than enough for the both of us!,_ or some lighthearted comment like that. It takes the awkwardness away from his silence.

Kris grins. "Yeah, I don't usually talk a whole lot either, I guess. I don't really have many friends, besides my Pokémon."

 _"Same way,"_ Espeon notes. Kris nods.

"Yeah. It's not bad, though," she adds. "It just means that things are calmer, you know?" Red nods this time, trying to engage _somehow._ If she hasn't recognized him yet, maybe she doesn't know who she's sitting with. She might not realize she's sitting with _that_ Red.

"Are you hungry?" she offers, gesturing to a small pan by the Typhlosion. "I went fishing earlier while I was waiting for you to wake up. I have a few leftovers, if you want. O-Or I can get fresh fish, too," she adds a little nervously, "I don't mean to feed you scraps."

Red crawls over to the small pan and eats the fish and a half that's left in there. She grins, albeit a bit confusedly.

"Whatever works for you. I could've gotten you a fork, or something." Red shrugs. "I guess you're used to roughing it, if you're traveling up here in winter."

 _Traveling,_  she says, not _hiding from civilization._ Red nods and takes another bite. Kris turns to sit facing him.

The howling wind outside is a bit muffled inside the mountain, leaving the gentle lapping of the lake as the main music of the space. For a few minutes, the two of them stay quiet, half-watching one another, half enjoying the heat of her fire-type Pokémon. He wants to tell her that he's thankful for being saved, but he can't find his voice right now. She doesn't feel threatening, but he's uneasy nonetheless. It has to be because he nearly died out there that he's still nervous.

"You know," she starts casually, "I actually came up here to look for Sneasel to send to Professor Elm for research. I thought they'd be more abundant in the snow, but I haven't seen even one yet... I guess this was a bad time to come by after all. The wind chill is 40 below today."

Red grimaces. God, that's awful. That's just unacceptable. Who said that was okay?

"Yeah, it's pretty bad. Do you have a heavier coat than that? If you're gonna stay up here - " he nods before she finishes the thought. "Oh, perfect, that's good. I was gonna see if maybe you had one in your bag so I could warm you up, but I thought it'd be weird to look through a stranger's backpack."

Red nods. Typhlosion nudges his arm.

"Oh, I think she wants some fish, too," Kris says. "Lemme catch some more so she can have a bite to eat, too. Do you want more?"

A bit bashfully, Red nods.

 _"Me too?"_ Espeon asks.

"Of course! Gimme a few minutes, and we'll have dinner on soon, okay? I figured my leftovers were only good for an appetizer, huh?"

It takes only fifteen minutes for Kris to catch five reasonably large fish among the schools of Magikarp. That's pretty impressive.

"Typhlosion, you know what to do, right?"

 _"Tyyy!"_ The spots on the Typhlosion's back flare up, and suddenly there's a burst of flames that dwindle down to the size of a small campfire.

"Things you never know would come in handy when you're traveling; a fire-type cookout," she jokes. "I picked Typhlosion up when she was just a baby Cyndaquil, from Professor Elm. I was the only kid old enough to go venturing out to start getting my gym badges, so I got first and last pick of the year. I think the kids back there are probably more eager to get out there than I was, though. The one boy I babysit is so energetic, you know? I think I've used the phase 'Ethan, no!' more times than I've had to scold any of my Pokémon."

Red is listening, but also trying to register Typhlosion in his Pokédex. As per usual, it brings up a garbled string of gibberish. It did the same thing to Espeon's entry, too. He would ask Oak to update his Pokédex with the Johto expansion, but he's not eager to go back to Pallet Town...

"Oh, you have an older Pokédex, don't you? Here," she hands over her own Pokédex, which has to be a sign of a ridiculous amount of trust, "you can read about him in here. Oh, you can register your Espeon too, if you want. I've never actually seen one before." Red flips the device over a few times, looking at the different flippy bits and rearranged buttons. "You just press that button on the bottom, and it'll register a Pokémon. I think it works the same as the Kanto model."

Red tests it, and sure enough, a picture of a generic Espeon pops up with some information and a polite _ding!_ signifying a new entry. _The tip of it's forked tail quivers when it is predicting its opponent's next move._ Sounds about right. What about this Typhlosion? _When heat from its body causes the air around it to shimmer, this is a sign that it is ready to battle._

He glances nervously at the fire type. It looks fairly calm.

"Yeah, the Pokédex acts like all Typhlosion are always aggressive," she answers a question he didn't verbally ask, somehow. "She gets weird looks a lot. People always ask, like, 'oh, is your Typhlosion sick?' But no, she's just very calm. Professor Elm said Pokémon sometimes take after their trainers, and I'm pretty calm myself, so..."

Red nods and, in a moment of bravery he didn't know he had, answers. "Me too."

His voice is quieter than hers, rougher. The wind did a number on his throat, didn't it?

"Yeah, I like that about you." Oh. "I like being around energetic people and Pokémon sometimes, but everyone needs some calm now and again. Ethan and Lyra are cute kids, but they're wild sometimes."

"One... My best friend is... very energetic." He really, _really_ needs to get better at conversations. He has no idea where half his thoughts are going before he says them. He thinks in movies and pictures and feelings, but not words, never words.

"That's Green, right? The successor to Viridian's gym?"

"How did you...?" Wait, so she _does_ recognize him, that's the only way she would know his best friend is Green, right?

"Yeah, Green is in charge of the Viridian City gym, now that you kinda chased Giovanni off," and she says that so _casually_ and so _calmly,_ she's not even yelling about it or asking him a hundred questions about how he did it or how it felt. "I actually just finished up battling Green last week. I was going to take on the Indigo League again, but I wanted to help with some research before that. I also wanted to catch my own Sneasel," she adds, "so I could see if having an ice type would be that significant of an advantage on Lance. I got by pretty well without any ice or dragon types on my team. Ampharos _does_ know Dragon Pulse, though, so that was helpful." She notices Red flipping through the Pokédex for that name. "I can let you meet him, if you want."

He checks her Pokédex first. _When it gets dark, the light from its bright, shiny tail can be seen from far away on the ocean's surface._ He nods at her, and she picks out a great ball and releases the Ampharos. It immediately growls at the cold.

"I'll get you tucked back in soon," she insists, "but my friend here wanted to meet you. He's from the Kanto region and wanted to see you."

 _"Pharr?"_ It has these two beautiful red gems on its otherwise yellow body. _"Pharr!"_

The electric creature hugs him tightly, letting off little shocks of happiness. He grins and pets Ampharos's short fur, accepting the bits of static that hit him.

"Don't shock him, Ampharos. That's not nice," she scolds him quietly. The Ampharos sticks his tongue out at her. "Hey!"

"It's okay. Pikachu does that, too."

Kris sighs a bit. "Well, at least you're used to it. He's just very friendly, so he ends up zapping people a lot." Ampharos shivers at a howl of wind that blows into the cave from some odd angle. "Okay, come on back, buddy. It's too cold for you out here."

 _"Amphar!"_ With a happy bark, Kris calls Ampharos back into the great ball and clips it to her belt.

"You should come visit Johto one of these days, you know," Kris comments. "It's really a beautiful region, and there's lots more Pokémon to find!"

Red feels his heart sink a little. "Can't."

That look in her eyes is sad. "You can't?"

"Can't go back down."

"Well, not in this blizzard, but - "

"Not at all."

Silence. She finishes cooking the fish and hands one off to him.

"Why not?"

He takes a bite before he answers her. "Don't wanna be around people."

It takes her a minute to respond, but she seems to understand when she does. "Oh, because of the champion thing? I heard a lot of news casters were struggling to get a hold of you. I guess you got sick of that after awhile, huh?" He nods. "Alright, I can't blame you. Maybe when the weather is nicer, I can bring some more Johto native Pokémon up here for you to visit, though. Would that be okay?"

He smiles a bit. "That would be fun."

Until their parting words, the rest of the hour or so they spend together is relatively silent. This energy is so calm, such an easy atmosphere.

Maybe it was a bad idea to isolate himself, if there's more people like her in the world.

"I'm gonna take off, now," Kris breaks the silence, "since it sounds like the snow is dying down. It might be a bit before I can get back up here, though..."

"That's fine. I'll be here."

" _Right_ here?"

Red glances up at his cave. "Just about."

She flashes a thumbs up. "I'll come by in the spring, then. It'll be easier to find you - and I'd better not find you passed out in the snow again, okay? Take care of yourself."

 _Take care of yourself._ He really doesn't have anyone else who can do that for him here.

"I'll do my best."

She gives him a crooked grin. "No running in the snow with a jacket that's too light anymore?"

"Nope."

"Good. I'll be back." She pauses, hesitating to say the next thought. "Maybe we can... battle sometime? I-I guess you're kind of sick of everyone challenging you, but - "

"I would love to," he answers without a second thought. That seems to make her happy.

"I'll be ready then. Ready to go, Typhlosion?"

 _"Ty!"_ the Pokémon nods. Before Kris can get too far, Red follows her and grabs her by the wrist lightly.

"What's up?"

He hands her an empty, purple Pokéball with an M engraved on it. She hesitates to take it.

"Are... Are you sure? Master balls are really hard to come by, aren't they?"

"Yeah."

"...You're really giving this to me?" He nods, and her eyes seem to smile with her lips. "Thank you. I promise I'll put it to good use."

"Thank you."

"No, thank _you!_ You're giving me - "

"No, I mean... Thank you for being kind to me."

Her smile softens. "Of course."

Red's steps feel a little lighter, his smile a little wider, and his heart a little warmer than usual as he hops back to his little hideaway.

**Author's Note:**

> this might be part of a series of drabbles like this??? we'll see how that goes  
> update: slight change, i'm calling her Kris in this now ghkfjdg


End file.
